Greenhouse effect methane

Coping with the greenhouse effect is a vei-y difficult sociopolitical problem. A greenhouse effect existed on Earth long before the Industrial Revolution. Had it not. Earth s surface would be much colder than it is now. The introduction of gases absorbing infrared radiation only enhances the greenhouse effect. Carbon dioxide is not the only gas of importance water vapor and methane, for exam-... 

Neue HU, Becker-Heidmann P, Scharpenseel HW. 1990. Organic matter dynamics, soil properties, and cultural practices in rice lands and their relationship to methane production. In Bouwman AF, ed. Soils and the Greenhouse Effect. New York Wiley, 457-466. 

This traditional system is still the disposal method most widely used in the EU. In landfills, biodegradable waste decomposes to produce landfill gas and leachate. The landfill gas consists mainly of methane and, if not captured, contributes considerably to the greenhouse effect. For this reason, the move away from landfill is an important part of the European Waste Framework Directive. 

Prom the standpoint of abatement of the contribution of C02 to the greenhouse effect, natural gas (methane) is preferred as a fuel over gasoline and, particularly, coal. Explain why this is so. 

Schbnwiese (1995) calculates the CH share in the greenhouse effect of about 2.5% and agriculture is believed to account for roughly two-thirds of the total human-generated CH (Watson ef al. 1996). While paddy rice fields, cattle feedlots and the burning of biomass contribute to methane emissions, about 75% of methane on farms is emitted directly from ruminant animals, from digestive processes and excretion (Stolze ef al. 2000, Alfbldi ef al. 2002, Shepherd ef al. 2003). 

Infrared (IR) active gases, like water vapor (H20), carbon dioxide (C02), ozone (03), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N20), chlorofluorocarbons CFC-11 (CC13F) and CFC-12 (CC12F2) naturally and anthropogenically present in the Earth s atmosphere, absorb thermal IR radiation emitted by the Earth s surface and atmosphere. This phenomenon is known as the atmospheric greenhouse effect , and the IR active... 

Since TO is a greenhouse gas, emissions of it can indirectly affect the formation of atmospheric greenhouse effect by influencing the TO concentration field. Moreover, MGC/TO precursors change the hydroxyl concentration field and, hence, the oxidation power of the troposphere. In its turn, the distribution of hydroxyl concentration in the troposphere controls the lifetime and, thus, the level of concentration of methane at the global scale. 

Such a complicated interactivity of processes can both directly and indirectly affect formation of the atmospheric greenhouse effect. Derwent et al. (2001) described a global 3-D Lagrangian chemistry transport model (STOCHEM) which reproduces chemical processes including MGC transport and can be used to reproduce interrelated fields of TO and methane concentration (Johnson et al., 2002) under conditions of emission to the atmosphere of short-lived TO precursors such as CH4, CO, NOx, and hydrogen. At the same time, the radiative forcing (RF) of NOx emissions depends on the location of emissions near the surface or in the upper troposphere, in the Northern or Southern Hemisphere. For each short-lived MGC/... 

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